Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, or any of its associated characters and lore.
[CSD]
A Chance to Settle Down
[CSD]
Outside the city limits of Robotropolis, Northamer, Planet Mobius, 3236 P.X.E.
"This officially stinks," Sonic the Hedgehog loudly proclaimed as soon as that jerk of a monkey, Khan, was out of his eyesight. Just when Sonic thought he could get along with that selfish primate, the latter had to drive a whole group of Overlanders straight into Doctor Eggman's force fielded city to go along with the roboticized Mobians still in that tyrant's clutches.
Facing downward with a glum look on his face, however, Sonic knew that Monkey Khan was not the only one who made stupid mistakes recently. The blue hedgehog himself failed to keep King Maximillian Acorn safe when the Royal Army attacked Robotropolis earlier, stole the mystical Sword of Acorns in an attempt to free his roboticized uncle and dog, lost the Sword itself, and failed to convince the Overlanders that Eggman was as untrustworthy as the real Dr. Ivo Robotnik he replaced. All in all, Sonic was in a bad place emotionally, and perhaps legally as well.
While Sonic had done what he could to reconcile with his Secret Service rival, Geoffrey St. John, upon obtaining knighthood, he could not bring himself to expect the skunk would not hold him accountable for his recent errors. Sonic would probably be kept grounded in Knothole Village, forbidden from fighting Eggman, and even worse, would have to face the scrutiny of all his loved ones, from his parents to his oldest friend, Princess Sally.
Making up his mind and making sure to beat any surprises of Eggman's while he was still next to Robotropolis, Sonic used his inborn superspeed to run far from the dystopian mess of a city, but not in the direction of the Great Forest, where Knothole was. Although Sonic knew that he had to take responsibility for his decisions and the failures that resulted from them, the daunting ordeal that Doctor Eggman represented for the planet Mobius won the hedgehog in the other direction. He would not return to the Kingdom to face the music directly, at least not yet, but he would endure the drama for the sake of taking down Eggman.
As he ran across the continent of Northamer, Sonic could only think, 'This is probably another bad choice, but I hope it's worth it.'
[CSD]
Feral Forest, 3237 P.X.E.
A t a great distance from Knothole, Feral Forest was a lush location in Northamer that surrounded a village of several wooden houses that some people would describe as closed-off from the rest of the world, which, for the sake of argument, was also referred to with the same name as the forest itself by both the inhabitants and visitors alike. Small as it was, the local community had been so out of touch with recent and ongoing events that the return of a Doctor Robotnik, regardless on rather it was the deceased original or an extradimensional counterpart, had come as shock to the villagers when Eggman's Shadowbots claimed the lives of several native woodsmen.
Having found himself in Feral Forest almost immediately after bearing witness to the spacefaring Overlanders returning to Mobius, Sonic soon enough made the village his new home upon realizing how much it needed protection from Eggman's forces. The fact that it was beneath the notice of the Kingdom of Acorn was an added bonus, while the hedgehog was slowly working on reestablishing his good relationship with the people in Knothole.
It was not an easy circumstance to adapt to, but Sonic made the best of it by far through helping the people of Feral Forest in several tasks aside from their defense. He had chopped and collected wood, aided in building more houses for new residents, and had even learned how to deliver newborns.
As the months passed, and the year 3236 had come and gone, Sonic had participated, when he could, in protecting Mobius as a whole from Eggman's vile schemes, the final of which included the real return of the original Robotnik, as well as an alien invasion. Thankfully, with some quick thinking on the part of himself and his reconciled friends, Sonic ensured that Robotnik Prime was roboticized into an immobile statue, which gave the Zone Cops the invitation to finally arrest Eggman, and a superpowered Knuckles the Echidna actually teleported the alien Xorda back to their home planet.
With the Robotnik threats finally dispelled, and Mobius being safe for the time being, Sonic chose to continue living in Feral Forest, with his reunited family by his side this time. While he had fond memories of Knothole and, to a degree, Mobotropolis, the hedgehog had found a new reason for living shortly after he first moved in.
"Sonic, my boy," a cheerful, yet gruff, voice called out to the blue hedgehog just after he had finished jacking another tree with his Spin Dash. Turning to face the source, Sonic was greeted by a Mobian squirrel with tan and brown fur, blue eyes, and a large bushy tail, who wore a blue pair of pants, and a white shirt under a crimson jacket.
"Mister Joss," Sonic welcomed the older man with a handshake, which prompted a laugh out of him.
"You know you don't have to be so formal with me, boyo," Joss corrected with a good-natured grin. Clearing his throat, he then said, "Anyhow, Megan needs you back at the house." With a mock reprimand, Joss added, "A certain someone is wondering where you are."
With a pretended shudder, Sonic replied, "Then I'm officially in trouble, Joss." Sharing a jolly laugh together, Sonic then remarked, "I'll be heading home. You think you can handle the lumber while I'm gone?"
With folded arms and a broadened smirk, Joss asked back, "I've been handling it since before you were born, haven't I?"
After another round of laughter, Sonic then made his way to where he needed to be. Upon entering a certain house, he called out, "Megan, Alexis, guess who's back!"
Receiving squeals of happiness from a blue-eyed baby squirrel with brown fur in a blue bundle, and wearing a pink bow in her hair, Sonic placed a kiss on the girls forehead before placing his lips on those of the mother squirrel holding the baby, who happily returned the gesture for a brief moment before they both turned their attention to the child. The mother squirrel herself was also brown with green eyes, a long bushy tail, and wavy dark brown hair, and wearing an orange dress.
"I hope my dear old dad didn't give you any trouble, beloved," Megan, mother of the infant Alexis, commented to her husband with a somewhat apologetic expression.
Sonic dismissed the thought with a wave of his right hand, saying, "Nah, as far as dads go, yours is the least scary of the lot I've met so far. Still, is Alexis doing okay?"
Megan handed Alexis over to the hedgehog, who held her up in the air as she giggled, and then said, "She just misses her father whenever she wakes up and you're not there."
Humming in understanding, Sonic could not help but show a thoughtful frown as he remembered that Alexis's biological father was one of the woodsmen the Shadowbots had killed not so long before Sonic arrived in Feral Forest. One thing between him and Megan led to another, and they found themselves married with a child. Sonic loved Alexis regardless of the lack of blood connection, but he could only hope that he could make her birth father rest easy knowing that his daughter had a father figure in her life, period.
The hedgehog soon found himself being embraced by Megan as she said to him with a meaningful smile, as if knowing what was on Sonic's mind, "And that father is the greatest hero in our whole world."
With a kind smile of his own, Sonic replied, "You're a big deal in my world, Megan. And I love you for it."
The husband and wife locked lips once again, and then left kisses on their little girl's head when she herself demanded attention.
[CSD]
I know that Megan, whose second marriage was with Elias Acorn in the Archie Sonic comics, was not exactly a major character with a defined age compared to Sonic, but I rather like the idea of Sonic leaving the Kingdom/Republic of Acorn's service for whatever reason under the right circumstances and finding a new love interest when things between him and Sally do not work out well. Therefore, the above scenario results from a point of divergence just immediately after Issue 92, which was when Sonic was assuredly not in a good point in time.
I also commissioned DeviantArtist, Moon-Phantom, a while back to depict the above scenario which I found to be a good display of fan art. So, please look at it when you have the time.
